Spelunking we shall go!

I'm trucking along on the sequel to Whom the Gods Love. My distractions this week were many, but a post about the Orda caves derailed me more than the rest. These caves are simply beautiful, particularly so because of all the gypsum there. I've been in quite a few terrestrial caves but I've never braved any underwater ones. Admittedly, most of the caves I've ventured into had electricity, generous lighting, and came complete with a tour guide but I have, on occasion, gone into a few with my siblings to explore. We never did get further than a few minutes in before we chickened out and headed back to the entrance, but given our complete lack of knowledge, preparation and experience, that was likely for the good. I'm no caver, but caves do hold a special interest for me. I love the idea, if not the reality, of exploring one. When I was a child I even had a chance to tour the cave Mark Twain made famous in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Twain is one of my favorite writers and getting to stand in a place he set part of his story in left me feeling as if I was in the presence of a famous movie star the whole time I was there. It wasn't just a void in stone for me, it was a famous void in famous stone. From a book. Ahem.

I don't think I'll ever be brave enough to actually personally explore any caves that don't come equipped with tour guides and guard rails, but I love to explore them vicariously. Watching the films and looking at the photographs taken by people made of braver stuff than I am rates high on my list of things to do when I should actually be working on my book instead. Speaking of which, you may be wondering exactly what this descent into spelunking has to do with my progress on Whom the Gods Hate, since I promised a book related tidbit this time. Well, caves feature rather prominently in Whom the Gods Hate so I've been doing some research and couldn't resist sharing these gems. I won't spoil anymore, so until the next post, check out some of the photos on this website. Beautiful.